Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Calling out the tweeders on soccer plan

Major League Soccer has once again demonstrated its lack of transparency and legitimacy in what was supposed to be a public hearing, but was in fact rigged in an attempt to make it appear there was minimal opposition by ensuring that those opposing were kept out of the main auditorium and relegated to a basement area (“MLS pitches Queens stadium,” Dec. 6-12).

MLS is involved with private, for-profit businesses and couldn't care less about the issue involving usurpation of public parkland. While disagreeing, one can understand MLS, since its pursuit of money is paramount to the public interest. What one cannot understand and should not tolerate is the Queens elected officials who for years have evidenced their ignorance concerning the importance of parks in a congested urban society and have consistently participated in dumping on Flushing Meadows Corona Park with all sorts of illegitimate structures that do not belong in it.

A case in point is Borough President Helen Marshall, who thought it was a good idea to build a grand prix racetrack around Meadow Lake and a huge New York Jets football stadium in the middle of the park. Her anti-Flushing Meadows activities are so egregious as to qualify her as the park’s Public Enemy No. 1. Not any better are state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) and state Assemblyman Francisco Moya (D-Jackson Heights), supporters of MLS and who think it is good for the economy.

If it is economy we are talking about, why settle for pennies? How about a 50-story luxury apartment building or a Macy’s? They are hereby challenged to state publicly whether they would support a stadium or other private business interests in Central, Bronx or Prospect parks for so-called economic reasons. One should not hold his or her breath waiting for an answer.

Term limits will rid us of Marshall but not Peralta and Moya, whose support for MLS makes it clear their rhetoric about caring for the poor and the middle class is empty and speaks more of an affinity with the rich and the privileged. Recognition that urban parks are a resource that cannot be replaced should be an important election issue, and one seeking public office who does not support that should not be elected and those already in office should be denied re-election.

The public must be alert to politicians’ attempts to beguile them with justification for their failure to protect the park by claiming Flushing Meadows is different from other parks. This snake oil must be rejected because there is nothing in the City Charter that designated the park as “different.” This is a phony claim manufactured by Donald Manes, a former discredited borough president who wanted to turn the park into another Meadowlands sports complex, presumably to be named after himself.

This charade had been followed year after year by intellectually bankrupt politicians more interested in real estate moguls and private business interests than the poor and middle-class users of the park.

It is to be noted that Donovan Finn, a SUNY Stony Brook professor of urban policy and environmental design, was correct to point out that there is no such thing as parkland in disrepair since it should be repaired and made usable as parkland. He was also correct to point out that replacing Flushing Meadows land with decrepit land elsewhere and not even contiguous to the park is unacceptable.

There is other non-Flushing Meadows land elsewhere available for a stadium, but why should that interest wealthy soccer club owners who would rather have free public parkland than pay for property in the open market?

Unless the public wakes up and demands the end to the continual desecration to this park, Manes’ dream may become a reality and bring an end to a much-needed and -used park so vital to our community.

Want to know what the problem is? It's the "D" which identifies the reptile representing the communities. This city is the epitome of the "one party state" because the ignorant and freeloading voters keep electing these bums. Don't complain when you are the cause.

Speaking of our future boro president Vallone - check out how Elmezzi came in and classified western Queens as a slum so they can seduce all the waterfront projects with their Plan 136 and make them touts for development .... that will displace them while daddy is an ... ah .... lobbyist.

Add to this Willets Point, Barclay Center, NYU in the Village, Columbia in upper Manhattan and anyone with deep pockets and Flushing Meadows.

If the Republicans/Working Families Party/Greens ruled this city I don't think there would be any improvement. It's exactly as you said: a one-party system has no incentive to challenge the status quo. As long as voters continue to vote down party-lines instead of making informed decisions, the city has not a chance in hell of turning around. We all know of great people in our communities that are not involved in politics. It's time to bring in new blood and put pressure on The Powers That Be by encouraging our outstanding neighborhood leaders to set their sights higher for the good of the community.

I am curious about the uniformity of the negative sentiment towards there being a soccer stadium in Flushing Meadow Park. While the details of the deal should be heavily scrutinized by members of the community and pols alike, I can't think of a single more appropriate place for a soccer stadium than Flushing Meadow. Putting the centerpiece of our contribution to the "world's sport" in the most diverse part of our country's most diverse city seems like a no brainer.

Obviously, adequate replacement of parkland is paramount, as well as structuring a deal in which 1. MLS uses no public funds for construction and 2. MLS has real and enforced stewardship responsibilities for the park. The idea of MLS taking care of the park (or at least a portion), running youth and development leagues, etc., sounds great to me. Especially considering this sport is already a huge part of the culture of our immigrant communities that often reside close to the park. Public transport is an issue, but the infrastructure for it is already in place. It will simply be a matter of adding additional subway and rail service.

The original post, as well as all of these comments, do not even attempt to explore any positives, of which there are many. Not the least is the creation of something the entire borough can coalesce around and that is accessible and supportable by Queens residents of all classes and cultures.

Professional soccer is not popular enough in this city to justify taking public land. It does not, as you say, cross cultures and classes. Yes, every weekend you see groups of recent immigrants play scrimmages but do you really think they would pay $20+ for a ticket? They already root for other international teams and have no pride in American sports, anyway.

Even the Mets cannot keep New Yorkers in the seats! We'd end up with a worthless stadium and once you take that parkland it will never return. Why FMCP? Why not pursue land elsewhere? How about Central Park?

Spotted a piece of Queens Crap in your community?

Please note

Italicized passages and many of the photos come from other websites. The links to these websites are provided within the posts.

Why your neighborhood is full of Queens Crap

"The difference between dishonest and honest graft: for dishonest graft one worked solely for one's own interests, while for honest graft one pursued the interests of one's party, one's state, and one's personal interests all together." - George Washington Plunkitt

Sites that kick ass:

The above organizations are recognized by Queens Crap as being beneficial to the city as a whole, by fighting to preserve the history and character of our neighborhoods. They are not connected to this website and the opinions presented here do not necessarily represent the positions of these organizations.

The comments left by posters to this site do not necessarily represent the views of the blogger or webmaster.